Letter: Jews for Jesus brings to mind an old lesson

Friday, Jan. 6, 2006 | 7:49 a.m.

The Sun's Dec. 31 article about the evangelical organization Jews for Jesus reminded me of an incident on Van Buren Street in Brooklyn in 1938. We lived in a working-class Jewish and Italian neighborhood. At the end of the street in a frame house was the last remnants of the Protestant establishment; two old ladies who were bent on converting their Jewish neighbors. Since the neighbors were familiar with much more drastic methods of altering their status, they merely threw some full-bodied Yiddish curses in their direction.

One morning during the summer, my father was on his way to work as a dress presser in a garment center sweatshop on Seventh Avenue, and as an 8-year-old, I thought I would accompany him part way to the subway. When we passed the old frame house, one of the ladies came running out and proffered a pamphlet to my father. Much to the consternation of my friends, he tipped his hat, thanked her and placed it under his arm. She walked away in triumph and my friends whispered "mishimit" (turncoat).

I walked with my father not knowing what to do. As soon as we turned the corner, he glanced at the pamphlet and threw it in a garbage can. I screamed at him, asking why he took it. He replied, "Why I made an old lady feel good!"

He continued to the subway and I learned a lesson. Consider all the Jews for Jesus in the same light and smile and ignore them.

Walter M. Jackman

Las Vegas